Hotel

During her commercial service the Queen Mary had carried 2,114,000 passengers and steamed 3,790,000 miles, but her 1,001st Atlantic crossing was her last. Instead of heading for New York she headed south, around Cape Horn on 19 November, as she was too wide to transit the Panama Canal. On 9 December 1967 the Queen Mary arrived at Long Beach, in California. She berthed at 11:30 am, marking her final moment as an active passenger ship. A short shore-side ceremony saw Captain John Treasure Jones handover the Cunard houseflag to the City of Long Beach. The following Monday, a shipboard ceremony confirmed the sale had gone through successfully and the ship was officially handed over to the city and also removed from the British registry. The following April the Queen Mary was moved to dry-dock and underwent a major reconfiguration for her new role; bulkheads, boilers and machinery were removed, her funnel uptakes decked over, and three of her four propellers removed. Her first class accommodation was preserved for her role as a hotel but nearly all her second, third class and crew areas were gutted; today, with hindsight, a very unfortunate and regrettable decision.